Best Taiwanese fantasy movies

Someday or One Day (2022)

In 2009, 28-year-old Li Zi Wei and 17-year-old Huang Yu Xuan met each other. These are two innocent and unaffected lives that could each feel like marks from their past and present lives. However, they could not find sufficient proof to fill up the emptiness at the bottom of their hearts. An accident let them fall into another Mobius loop that had already happened countless times. Only then did they realize that in different times and spaces, they once had a deep, true love that had passed through countless timelines to search for each other with no regrets. But in that story, their deepest love came at the highest price. If they could start again, would they choose to meet by chance in ordinary life or be scarred by the memories etched in their heart and bones? Or perhaps they can choose to hurt and love all over again, betting on a different ending?

Rabbit Hole (2021)

Short animation by Holly Lo

Super Taboo (2017)

In Taiwan pornography is still a socially unacceptable taboo. Firmly and ironically, Su Hui-yu indulges in a visually powerful long shot enhanced by unexpected pop art colours. A classic hardcore esthetic is represented in a gallery of a tableaux vivants that demand their freedom, alternating movement and immobility, the denial of pleasure and the pursuit of it.

The Arti: The Adventure Begins (2015)

Combining ancient designs discovered on the Silk Road, and an enigmatic natural power called the Origin, Zhang Meng created Arti-C, a powerful mechanical man made of wood and metal. Having stirred up fears, he was accused of treason and slain — but not before entrusting the Arti to his son Mo, who controls the wooden robot, and his daughter Tong, a cocky swordswoman. The siblings, now grown, pursue a perilous quest across the desert in search of the legendary city of Loulan, where they hope to find the Origin at its source. However, with ambitious royal schemes afoot and a mysterious tribe guarding the Origin, the Zhangs’ goal will not be easy to achieve. In the battle to come, are they even on the right side?

Fox Legend (1991)

When she helplessly falls in love with her mortal enemy, the beautiful yet cursed fox spirit known as Snow Lady causes her mother much trepidation. To make matters worse, a ruthless tracker emerges and threatens to alter her fate. Darkly comical and hauntingly stylish, this magical gothic tale from Hong Kong also features performances from Wai Yiu and director Ma Wu.

Make Up (2011)

Being a mortuary cosmetologist, Min-Hsiu is used to seeing dead bodies until she accidentally spots a female corpse – her high school teacher Miss Chen Ting. Nie Cheng-Fu, Chen Ting’s husband, loves his wife profoundly and tries to find more memories of her with Min-Hsiu’s help. At that point, a detective, Kuo Yung-Ming, senses that the truth behind this case may not be as simple as it seems. Death is not the end of life, but another beginning of it...

Legend of the Mountain (1979)

A traveling scholar, intent on translating a Buddhist sutra that is said to have power over the creatures of the afterlife. He slowly finds himself entangled in a mysterious plot involving witchcraft, demons, and a battle to preserve his own soul from the attacks of the supernatural underworld.

Love of the White Snake (1978)

This early Brigitte Lin film is based on the same Chinese folk tale that Tsui Hark later used as his source for The Green Snake. It is the story of two sister snakes that want to feel what it is to be human and one of them needs to know what it is to feel human love. It is a sweet magical but ultimately tragic tale of breaking societal taboos. - brns.com

The Busy Young Psychic (2013)

Xie Junya is a teenage girl who possesses the innate ability to see the dead, a problem that has troubled her for a long time. She sought help at a temple, but the problem was not solved. Instead, many devotees gather to ask her questions about their deceased loved ones and even winning lottery numbers. Her work as a psychic leaves her with no time to practice baseball. What she really cares about is whether a guy in her school’s baseball team likes her. The boy she has a crush on invites Junya to his birthday party. However, there is a long line of people waiting at the temple for her advice. How will she choose between love and her sacred mission?

The Glamorous Boys of Tang (2019)

In artist Su Hui-yu’s signature style, a moody slow-motion pan captures a wild, glitter-scattered, blood-splattered orgy during the Tang dynasty. The film is an invocation of scenes from 1985 Taiwanese cult film Tang Chao Chi Li that only existed in the screenplay, unfilmed until now due to what can only be imagined as budgetary restrictions and censorship pressures during the Martial Law era. Presented without narrative context, the orgiastic murder scene plays out like an unsettling nightmare.

Love After Time (2016)

After a nuclear disaster, the world has gone dystopian. Many people have undergone physical mutation, and therefore are cut off government supplies. A female mutant robs the provisions of a military officer with a strong sense of justice. His chase ends in a rundown, gaudy amusement park. Just when the girl is about to be arrested, she discovers a top secret. The division between normal and abnormal should not be a raison d'être.

The Second Coming (2014)

All the CHEN family want is a quiet life but as daughter Lucy's behavior changes from strange to violent, they are forced to confront dark secrets they have hidden for years. One by one, their desperate poverty, the mother's rape and the father's revenge by murder return to haunt them...until a searing TRUTH no one knew is revealed. Will this truth give them a second chance to right the wrongs in their lives or destroy them all?

Demigod: The Legend Begins (2022)

The martial artist Su Hua-Jen has risked his life clambering to the summit of one of the five sacred mountains of Wu Lin, only to come across two monstrous beings in battle. His timely intervention turns the tide of the fight, and unbeknownst to him, sets in motion a series of monumentally consequential events. Back in the city, Su has a more mundane problem to face—an enormous debt with the local book lender. To pay this off, he must peddle his remarkable skills as a physician. While Su would prefer to steer clear of the affairs of the martial arts world, a request from the Lord of Globe Castle is financially promising—and might gain him access to the Fantastic Academy, where he can feast his eyes on the Limitless Celestial Book. But treachery is afoot, and Su is soon drawn into a crisis that will rock the foundations of Heaven and Earth.

The Time of Huan Nan (2024)

The Four Brothers of Huan Nan is a charismatic gang known for its vibrant presence. Amid the bustle of Taipei's traditional food market, two of the youths face familial opposition to their forbidden love, while the only female member grapples with her unspoken feelings for the enigmatic fourth member.

The Witch with Flying Head (1982)

A young woman of considerable social standing receives a curse from a black magician that causes her her head to detach from her body and attack anyone in sight. A good wizard is able to limit the effects of the curse to effect her only on the 15th of each month, but when she falls in love, things get complicated.

A Night with Moosina (2022)

On a full moon night, a ten-year-old girl from a farming family in a remote village is lured by Moosina into a cave in the mountains, where she uncovers the secret about why the mountain demon always plays dirty tricks on children.

Do Over (2006)

Do Over follows five characters over twenty four hours on the last day of the year. As the interrelated stories proceed, the connections between the lives of the five characters begin to reveal themselves and their stories unravel. By depicting five different characters at emotional crossroads, Do Over examines the struggle of overcoming our greatest fears; the unknown of what lies ahead in the future, the fading value of our existence in the present, and most of all, irreversible mistakes made in the past that may catch up to us.

Ghostly Love (1989)

"Chinese Ghost Story" clone, with "Erotic Ghost Story" treatment. Scholar Tsin Fai arrives in a strange village where the beautiful Siu Chui mysteriously arrives in his room and into his bed. Next day, in the street, she treats him as a stranger...

The Phoenix (1978)

With the clash of steel from his mighty magic sword and the beat of the wings of the giant Phoenix, Ty sets forth on his quest to regain his Magic Bronze Pot and thwart the evil intentions of Flower Fox and her villainous companion Grasshopper. A warrior conjured out of stone, a massive tidal wave — one after another, Ty has to overcome the obstacles which Flower Fox throws in his path until he reaches her secret island sanctuary. And then the real battle begins. With the tide of the battle running first one way and then the other, courageous Ty risks his life in a last attempt to save the world from destruction.

Abracadabra (1986)

In 1980, a crack team of Taoists (garbed like ninjas!) successfully vanquish a mob of ghosts -- except for female demon Pinkish Red, who manages to escape. Six years later, Cici Shin (Charine Chan Kar-ling) and her cousin, Lily Li (Ann Bridgewater), open a boutique and need a mirror for their fitting room. The mall security guard finds one for them in the basement but, naturally, Pinkish Red resides inside it and, when Cici cleans the mirror’s surface, the ghost is able to enter back into the real world.

Matching Escort (1982)

A prince wants to marry a common girl, but is forbidden from doing so. When the girl's parents are brutally murdered, she's taken in by the Silver Fox, and taught the ways of killer kung-fu techniques, which she masters completely. When she finds out that the prince's life is now threatened by the same warlord who killed her parents, it's time to take revenge.

Moonlight Boy (1993)

Xiao Feng, a 13-year-old boy, spends his life wandering between his family house and the rehearsals of his older sister's band, but nobody seems to be aware of his existence.

Change (1998)

The angel from heaven asks a man to return to the afterlife to find his true love before he can be reincarnated, but he returns to the afterlife as a woman...

Termite Feeding Show (2025)

In this insect equivalent of a theatrical fine-dining experience, termite butchers, with musical accompaniment of a termite pianist, perform a ritualistic slaughter on a piece of power cable. The fact that their climate crisis-induced dietary choice also causes power outages in human cities is the proverbial cherry on the cable. A delightfully strange and pleasantly icky spectacle that combines costume play and animation. Eat up!

The Other Side Of The River (1999)

It tells the story of a woman who recalls her childhood at night.

The Phantom Lute (1975)

Chia Ling aka Judy Lee (SHAOLIN INVINCIBLES, QUEEN BOXER) stars as a woman summoned by a retired general to sing and play the lute for him, but as she performs, he attempts to assault her and in the process murders her. The general and his assistant throw her body and lute into a fire, but Master Ku, a scholar who was watching her father, finds the burnt shell of the lute which now contains her ghost. Together they will now try and bring the general and his henchmen to justice.

Kavalan (1999)

In 1998, Kang Chin-Ho (康進和) directed Kavalan (少年噶瑪蘭), funded by PTS and filmed by Wang Film Productions, the theme is an aborigine tale handed down in the Kabalan Plain, describing the protagonist transcending space and time to return to the plain in olden times. The art design was not bad but due to a lack of understanding of Taiwanese aborigine culture, the animation was not well valued by the aborigines.

Lady Boxer (1984)

Fire Concubine takes up Thai boxing to avenge her brother's death. This does not go down well with the local mafia who arrange for a witch to put a deadly curse on her.

The Ghost's Sword (1971)

Hello! Tapir (2022)

8-year-old Ah Keat sets off in search of the mythical nightmare-eating creature in the forest, hoping it will bring his father back to life.